Thiruvananthapuram: After Doordarshan announced the broadcasting of the controversial "The Kerala Story" movie on April 5, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan condemned the decision on Thursday, urging the public broadcaster to withdraw its move. Vijayan said that the broadcast would only "exacerbate communal tensions" ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, PTI reported.
He asked Doordarshan not to become RSS-BJP's "propaganda machine".
Vijayan wrote on X, "The decision by @DDNational to broadcast the film 'Kerala Story', which incites polarisation, is highly condemnable. The national news broadcaster should not become a propaganda machine of the BJP-RSS combine and withdraw from screening a film that only seeks to exacerbate communal tensions ahead of the general elections."
"Kerala will remain steadfast in opposing such malicious attempts to sow hatred," he wrote.
The ruling party of the state CPI(M) also asked Dooradarsan not to broadcast the movie, asking it not to stand with BJP's attempt to polarise the secular people of Kerala. The party alleged that the BJP intends to make inroads in Kerala in the upcoming elections since it couldn't tame the state so far with its political agenda.
"This amounts to challenging Kerala. Kerala had witnessed strong protests when it was released. The censor board itself had removed 10 scenes from the movie," CPI(M) said. "A public sector broadcast service should not stand with the "BJP's attempt to polarise" the secular Kerala society", it said.
The Kerala High Court refused to stay the release of the film, even after it was questioned before the court over its false claims in its trailer that 32,000 women from the state were converted, radicalised and deployed in terror missions in both India and abroad. The court had said that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had examined the movie and found that it was suitable for public exhibition.